The Most Wonderful Time
by Jestress
Summary: The holidays can be a hectic time, but still wonderful. Merry Christmas, everyone! :D
1. Parties for Hosting

**Disclaimer:** 'Tis the season to be generous! I would like to thank the creators of Scarecrow and Mrs. King for creating the series and its characters and for being generous enough to let people like me use them in fanfiction like this. If I'd made any money from this, I'd be equally generous, but since I haven't, we'll just have to say that it's the thought that counts.

The song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" was written by Edward Pola and George Wyle.

**Explanation:** This is just a fun little story about our favorite spies and how they spend Christmas. It takes place during the third season of the series.

In the song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," the line that's always intrigued me is the part about "scary ghost stories." I never really associated ghost stories with Christmas before I heard that song. I looked it up and found out that telling ghost stories at Christmas is an English tradition, or at least, it used to be. I think the website I read said that people might do it other places, too, where Christmastime is snowy and people spend most of their time inside around their fireplaces, kind of like a campfire atmosphere.

Krampus is also an old Christmas tradition. There are websites devoted to it if you're curious.

**The Most Wonderful Time**

By Jestress

"There'll be parties for hosting  
Marshmallows for toasting  
And caroling out in the snow  
There'll be scary ghost stories  
And tales of the glories of  
Christmases long, long ago"

**- From "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year"**

**Chapter 1: Parties for hosting**

"It's the most wonderful time of the year . . ."

Someone had brought a portable stereo and a cassette of Christmas songs to the Christmas party in the bullpen. The room was decorated with red, green, and gold garland, and some people had added extra holiday touches to their desks and cubicles, like Christmas cards, paper cutouts of reindeer and snowmen, mini Christmas trees, and even paper snowflakes they'd made themselves from some of the Agency's computer paper. Ordinarily, Billy would have chewed them out for wasting office resources, but around this time of year, he tended to look the other way.

At the moment, Billy was handing out the fruitcakes his wife always made. Amanda came up to him and traded one of her trays of cookies for one of the fruitcakes. For about the last half hour, she'd been making her way around the room, happily giving everyone one of her usual trays of Christmas cookies. In the last couple of years, Amanda's baked goods had become much-anticipated office treats. Lee had noticed that people tended to be extra nice to Amanda at this time of year, probably in the hopes of getting on her cookie list. Quite often, because Amanda was usually in a good mood around Christmas, their ploys worked.

Lee watched Francine smile and thank Amanda, praising the double chocolate cookies that Amanda had included on her tray.

"Chocolate," Lee thought, nibbling on a cookie of his own. "The one sure way to Francine's heart."

Really, everyone was in a festive mood . . . except for Lee.

When he was younger, he'd often be one of the wilder ones at the Christmas party, or any party for that matter. It wasn't that he was big on the holidays in general, it was more that parties were great places to meet women. However, these days, there was only one woman whose attention he wanted, and she was too busy handing out plates of cookies to pay attention to him. Amanda might think that he was just being a Scrooge, but right now, all he really wanted was for the two of them to be by themselves upstairs in the Q-Bureau.

Lee's eyes followed Amanda around the room as she gave cookies to Leatherneck and Mrs. Marston. She'd started acquiring a stash of goodies of her own as people returned the favor.

When Lee saw Amanda struggling to balance a plate of fudge on top of the gingerbread and fruitcake she was already holding, Lee picked up an empty computer paper box and came over to help her.

"Put everything in here," he said. "It'll be easier to carry. Actually, why don't you let me take that?"

"Thank you!" Amanda said, gratefully letting Lee take the various plastic-wrapped Christmas treats off of her hands.

"Got all your cookies delivered?"

"Yeah," Amanda said. "You know, I think I might leave some of these treats in the Q-Bureau for us to snack on. The boys are going to have enough sugar with the cookies Mother and I are going to bake later and all the stuff that their friends—"

"You're baking more cookies?"

"Well, the boys would be disappointed if we didn't have some for them, and I promised some for the church choir when we go caroling."

"You're going caroling with your church choir? I didn't know that you were even a member of the choir."

"Actually, I'm not. They recruit extra people to go caroling at Christmastime. While we're caroling, we collect donations for some of the charitable programs our church runs. Mother and I both volunteered to help."

Lee nodded. Amanda was always ready to support a good cause.

"I can't believe all the stuff you do around this time of year."

"Christmas is special," Amanda said with a smile. "I try to make the most of it."

Lee smiled back, but his heart sank a little. Christmas was one of Amanda's busiest times of the year, which made it next to impossible for him to see her outside of the office. Yet, Lee had been hoping to spend some time with her over the holidays. For once, he was taking Christmas off.

When his uncle, Colonel Clayton, had come to see him earlier in the year, the two of them had talked about getting together for Christmas. Lee had persuaded his uncle that spending Christmas in the D.C. area would be more fun than spending it at an Air Force base, so he would be spending most of the holidays entertaining him. However, since Lee knew that Amanda was also taking time off, he'd hoped that they could also get together, just the two of them. But, between her baking and church activities and time with her family, there wasn't much chance of that.

"Why don't we take these things up to the Q-Bureau now?" Lee suggested, hoping to steal a few minutes alone with Amanda.

Amanda glanced around the room, checking to make sure that there was no one else who she needed to wish a Merry Christmas.

Ephraim Beaman chose that moment to stumble over to the two of them.

"Have you seen Fffrrrancine?" he slurred.

Evidently, he was participating in what had become his own special Christmas tradition.

"No," Lee said quickly, "and we have to be going."

He gently took Amanda's arm and steered her out of the bullpen and away from Beaman. Beaman would eventually find Francine, if he didn't pass out first. Lee felt a little sorry for Francine, but he knew that she would handle the situation.

"So what do you have planned with your uncle?" Amanda asked as they reached the Q-Bureau.

"Oh, seeing the usual sights, dinner at his club . . . nothing really special."

"Sometimes just spending time with someone close to you is special enough."

"Yeah," Lee said softly, giving Amanda a long look.

"I'm sure that your uncle will enjoy whatever you two do together," Amanda said optimistically.

"Mm," Lee said non-commitally. He didn't really think that was true, although the two of them had come to a better understanding of each other during the last year.

"Are you giving him anything for Christmas?"

"We've never been big on exchanging presents," Lee said. "When I was a kid, he used to take me shopping at Christmastime and have me pick out what I wanted. There were never any surprise gifts."

"You could change that tradition this year," Amanda suggested.

"I wouldn't know what to get him."

"Bet you'll never guess what I'm getting you for Christmas."

"You already gave me a gift," Lee said, pointing to the plate of cookies on his desk.

"That's just what I give to everyone. I've got something extra for you this year."

"What?"

"Not telling!" Amanda said with a grin. "It's a surprise. You'll just have to wait and see."

Lee was a little worried. All he'd gotten for Amanda was the same sort of scarf he'd given to everyone else. That was all he usually bought for everyone. If Amanda was giving him something special, that meant that he'd have to buy something extra for her, too, and he had no idea what to get her.

But, then Lee smiled to himself. If Amanda was giving him a Christmas gift, that meant that she was planning on seeing him over the holidays. She might not realize it, but she'd just promised him the very gift he'd been hoping for.


	2. Marshmallows for Toasting

**Chapter 2: Marshmallows for Toasting**

Amanda and her mother were pulling another batch of cookies out of the oven when Philip tried to grab one from the corner of the tray. Dotty swatted his hand.

"Those are hot!" she said. "Besides, they're for when we go caroling tomorrow. You can have some from the next batch."

"I thought Mom already made the ones for the caroling."

"No, those were for the people I work with, sweetheart," Amanda said. "Besides, you and Jamie have been eating marshmallows all evening. You don't need any more sugar."

Around Christmas, Amanda usually let the boys indulge in more sugary treats than she would any other time. This evening, they'd wanted to toast marshmallows in the fireplace, so she let them do it. It made them happy and had kept them out of the way of the cookie preparations. At least, it had for awhile.

"Do we have any graham crackers and chocolate?" Philip asked, checking the cupboard. "We want to make s'mores."

"They're on the bottom shelf," Amanda said.

"Are you sure they should be making s'mores now?" Dotty asked. "If they have too much sugar, they'll probably be up half the night."

"They're off for Christmas vacation, so they can sleep late tomorrow. Besides, the bag of marshmallows was only half full. If they want to finish it off, that's okay."

"Maybe we could also have some of that fudge Grandma made yesterday?" Philip asked hopefully.

"That would be overdoing it," Amanda said with a laugh. "You can finish the marshmallows, and then that's it, okay?"

"If you're too greedy, Krampus will come to your house instead of Santa Claus," Dotty said. "That's what my grandmother used to say."

"Krampus?" asked Philip.

"He's kind of like a dark version of Santa Claus," Dotty said. "Instead of bringing presents to the good children, he carries off the bad ones so that he can punish them."

"Huh," Philip said. "That's weird."

"He's supposed to look like the devil, only he's coal black from head to foot," Dotty continued. "He punishes the bad children by taking them away in a basket and whipping them with chains."

"Mother!" Amanda said. "You were worried about the boys not being able to sleep after eating all that sugar, but stories like that could give them nightmares."

"Only if I believed in them," Philip said. "So does he use heavy, rusty chains?"

"Oh, definitely rusty," Dotty said. "Probably heavy, too. I never asked."

"Cool. Thanks, Grandma!" Philip picked up the chocolate and graham crackers and went to rejoin his brother in the living room.

Amanda smiled. Even as a young child, Philip had never been impressed with the idea of Santa. He'd always been too practical and realistic to believe in such things. She should have known that Dotty's Krampus story wouldn't faze him.

"Rusty chains?" Amanda asked her mother with raised eyebrows.

"It was more effective at keeping me and my siblings in line than the threat of Santa leaving coal in our stockings," Dotty explained.

"Well, all I can say is that those boys had better behave themselves while we're out caroling, or Krampus will be the last thing they'll have to worry about."

Amanda was a little worried about leaving the boys home alone while she and her mother were out with the carolers. Philip was twelve years old, so he was old enough to take care of his younger brother for a few hours. Still, the boys had never been left by themselves before.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Dotty said, "and Buck said that he'd be available if the boys need any help."

In Amanda's opinion, their wild next-door neighbor was more likely to be a source of problems rather than solutions, but in a real emergency, he would be better than nothing.

"I've told the boys not to rough-house while we're gone and not to open the door to any strangers, and there's a list of emergency numbers on the fridge. I guess they'll be okay."

"Of course, they will!" Dotty said brightly. "Now, how did your friends at work like the cookies you brought them?"

"The cookies were a big hit."

"I knew they would be. And your boss, what's his name . . . Mr. Steadman? Did he like them?"

"Yes, he liked them."

Amanda braced herself for what she knew was coming. Dotty was always interested in her daughter's marriage prospects, and lately, she'd been hinting around that Amanda might be involved with someone at work. The trouble was that she was almost right. Almost.

"They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

Amanda focused on getting the next batch of cookies into the oven.

"You did say that Mr. Steadman is unmarried, right?"

Amanda nodded.

"I suppose the poor man is spending the holidays alone."

"Actually, his uncle is visiting from out of town."

"Well, that's nice. It can be difficult to entertain out-of-town guests, especially for a bachelor. Single men often eat nothing but take-out."

Amanda knew that Lee was actually pretty good at entertaining when he wanted to be. He was a good cook, and he could be charming company. He'd probably had to do a fast clean-up job to get his apartment in shape for his uncle, but otherwise, he'd be fine.

"I'll bet the two of them would enjoy a home-cooked meal," Dotty continued.

"I think they already have plans, Mother."

It was difficult to keep a note of sadness out of her voice. It wasn't that she was unhappy that the Colonel was visiting. She thought it was great that Lee and his uncle had improved their relationship. Lee had even taken himself off the duty roster until after the New Year, which he hadn't done since she'd met him.

The sad part was that she'd realized that they weren't likely to see each other again until after the holidays. Neither of them had a reason to go to the office until after the New Year. Between her activities and the Colonel's visit, it wasn't likely that either of them would have a moment to spare even to get a cup of coffee together. She was missing him already.

Fortunately, Dotty had decided not to press the matter further and had started talking about the caroling again. Amanda was grateful. There was just too much surrounding "Mr. Steadman" that she couldn't explain. For reasons of national security, Amanda could never explain to her mother what she and Lee really did for a living, and explaining their relationship . . . well, in some ways that was even more difficult. Sometimes, Amanda wasn't even sure how to explain it to herself.

Even from the beginning, she'd been fond of Lee. Even when he'd been the reckless, impatient playboy, she'd seen that he had his endearing qualities. But, their relationship was complex. For a long time, he'd maintained that their relationship was strictly business, but yet, the two of them had become good friends. _Best_ friends. Lee had never actually called their time together "dating," but during the last year, he'd started inviting her places just for fun. Lee had never asked her to be his girlfriend, but Amanda had noticed that he had stopped seeing other women.

It was becoming more obvious that Lee was wanted a relationship with her, but Amanda wasn't sure how serious Lee was about it. Sometimes, when they were alone, she thought about asking him, but she was afraid of pushing him too much. When he was ready to tell her, he would. Until then, she just had to be patient.

"Careful, Amanda!" Dotty said. "You almost knocked that tray on the floor!"

"Sorry, Mother!" Amanda said, adjusting the tray on the counter.

She did her best to pull her mind back to the task at hand, although her thoughts drifted back to Lee. She wondered how his uncle's visit was going. At some point, she had to find time to give Lee his Christmas present.


	3. Caroling Out in the Snow

**Chapter 3: Caroling Out in the Snow**

The next day, Lee and his uncle were out shopping in Georgetown. Neither one of them was really much for shopping in general, but it was something to do. Years of not really sharing in each other's activities made it difficult for them to think of things to do together and talk about with each other. Lee had taken Colonel Clayton to see some of the usual sights, but the Colonel had seen them all before. Then, Lee had suggested that they go for a walk together and get something to eat at a little café that he knew.

"Alright," his uncle agreed. "Maybe while we're out, we could also pick out your Christmas gift."

"Oh, you don't have to get me anything, Sir," Lee said.

It was a good thing that his spy training included how to control his emotional reactions. Lee hadn't bought anything for his uncle, and he had no idea how to pick up something quick without his uncle knowing about it. Now, he wished that he'd bought an extra scarf.

"That's alright, Skip," the Colonel said, using Lee's despised childhood nickname out of habit. "I'd like to get you something."

Lee tried to ignore the "Skip" and said, "How about we do a little window shopping?"

The shopping trip actually went pretty well. Lee managed to buy a couple of books about airplanes and antiques weapons for his uncle while they were browsing in a small bookstore. Meanwhile, his uncle picked out a book about classic cars for him. Later, they both picked out some new clothes at Martindale's. Lee bought his uncle a couple of nice shirts and sweaters, and the Colonel bought him a new black coat with a matching hat and scarf. Lee was feeling pretty satisfied about how well things were going. Christmas shopping was accomplished with a minimum of bother, and his uncle seemed to enjoy seeing all the stores' Christmas decorations.

Outside of Martindale's, they encountered a group of carolers. They were singing beautifully, and the snow that was just starting to fall added to the festive mood. Yet, Lee froze in his tracks the moment he saw them. His eyes had been instantly drawn to Amanda's face among the singers . . . and Dotty's beside her.

"It's nice to see that some people still think of others around this season," the Colonel remarked, noting the box one of the carolers was holding to collect donations. "Lee, what are you doing?"

"We have to go," Lee said. He'd turned around so the carolers couldn't see his face.

"Why?"

"Amanda's there with her mother," Lee said quietly. "I can't let them see me."

"Amanda?" The Colonel gave the carolers a closer look. "Yes, I see. But, what's wrong? Did the two of you have a fight? I thought you told me that you were still together."

When the Colonel had first met Amanda, Lee had introduced her as his girlfriend. At the time, Lee had been hoping to use her as an excuse not to have dinner with his uncle, but instead, his uncle had offered to treat them both to dinner. Fortunately, Amanda had played along with the charade, doing her best to smooth over the tension between Lee and his uncle. The Colonel had been charmed with Amanda and had even encouraged Lee to continue the relationship, telling Lee that she was by far the best of his girlfriends. Of course, Lee had never let on that he and Amanda weren't really dating. Now, however, things were different.

While the two of them weren't officially a couple, Lee had to admit to himself that there was no other woman he'd rather be with. He just didn't know how to tell Amanda how he felt. Their friendship was too important to him to risk ruining things by moving too fast. What he really wanted to do was to spend more time with her outside of work. He wanted time to see how she really felt about him before he said anything to her. But, they weren't likely to get much time over Christmas. He tried to shrug off the depressing thought.

"Amanda's family doesn't know that she works with me," Lee explained to his uncle. "Her mother doesn't know what we really do for a living, and she doesn't know that we're . . . involved. It would make things difficult for Amanda if she found out. I can't let her see me with Amanda."

"Oh, I see," the Colonel said. "That must make things difficult for the two of you."

"Yes, it does," Lee grumbled.

"Go into that shop over there," The Colonel said, pointing to the next store over. It was a candy store. "I'll join you in a minute."

As Lee headed over to the candy store, he glanced backward over his shoulder. The Colonel was putting a donation in the carolers' box.

The candy store was crowded with people. Children were begging their parents for their favorite treats, and the adults were buying boxes of chocolates wrapped in red paper with large gold ribbons. It reminded Lee that he still needed to buy something for Amanda. He wondered what she had gotten for him.

The bell on the shop's door jingled as the Colonel came in.

"Have you bought something for Amanda yet?" he asked, seeing Lee eyeing the boxes of chocolates.

Lee shook his head. "I'm not quite sure what to give her."

"Those chocolates might be nice," the Colonel suggested.

"I don't know. She's been doing a lot of baking lately, and several people have already given her sugary stuff as presents. I don't want to give her something that's just like what she already has."

"Good point." The Colonel put a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll do a little more shopping, and we'll find something good. Then, I'll help you arrange a good time to give it to her."

Lee blinked in surprise. Amanda must have made an even bigger impression on his uncle than he'd thought. Either that, or his uncle was more of a romantic than he'd thought.

"After all, Christmas is special, and you should make the most of it," the Colonel said with a wink.


	4. Scary Ghost Stories

**Chapter 4: Scary Ghost Stories**

Philip and Jamie were making the most of their time alone in the house while their mother and grandmother were out with the carolers. Since they would be eating with the carolers and coming home late, the boys had been on their own for dinner. For dessert, they decided to toast the new bag of marshmallows that their mother had picked up at the store earlier in the day and had forgotten to put away.

"Do you think Mom will be mad about us eating all the marshmallows again after we finished off the last bag?" Jamie asked as he put another one on his toasting fork.

"Nah," Philip said. "Well, maybe at first. As long as we save some for the hot chocolate she'll make when she gets home, I don't think it will be so bad."

"You sure?"

"It's Christmastime," Philip said reasonably, "and Mom doesn't hold a grudge, especially at this time of year."

"Maybe she'll refuse to make hot chocolate. She might say that we've had too much sugar already."

"She and Grandma have been outside in the cold all afternoon. They'll still want hot chocolate," Philip insisted. "Stop worrying. How often do we get the house to ourselves to do this anyway?"

Privately, Jamie wondered whether they'd ever get the house to themselves again if they didn't clean up the mess in the kitchen before their mother got home.

"Surely, you're not afraid that Krampus will come to get you, will you?"

"Krampus?" Jamie asked as he checked to see how well done his marshmallows were. Unlike his brother, he liked his marshmallows a light golden color, not blackened.

"You know how Santa brings presents for kids who have been good? Well, Krampus . . ."

SMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMK

Lee was humming to himself as he approached Amanda's house.

The Colonel turned out to be pretty helpful in picking out Amanda's present, which made Lee wonder how many times he'd picked out presents for women before. He couldn't remember his uncle showing much interest in romance when he was young, and Lee had assumed that he'd basically been married to his career. Now, he was thinking that it might not always have been that way.

At the Colonel's urging, Lee headed over to Amanda's house that evening to give her the present he'd bought.

"There's no time like the present," the Colonel joked. "You take your time. I'll just relax here this evening."

So, Lee had eagerly jumped in his car and headed over to Amanda's house. It was after her usual dinnertime, so she was probably home and available. He was feeling pretty confident as he circled her house to the back door, wearing his nice new black coat with the matching hat and scarf.

SMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMK

"A black devil with rusty chains?" Jamie asked. "Get real!"

"Grandma said so."

"Yeah, right." Jamie rolled his eyes. He'd believed in Santa for longer than Philip had, but he was much too old for that now, and this Krampus stuff sounded pretty weird.

"If you don't believe in Krampus, I dare you to eat the last of Mom's chocolate."

"Okay."

Jamie put the last of the chocolate on a graham cracker and piled both of his marshmallows on top of it, squishing them down with another graham cracker until they oozed out the sides.

He was just lifting his s'more to his mouth, about to take a huge bite, when Philip said, "Wait! Listen a sec."

Jamie stopped and listened. "I don't hear anything."

"I thought I heard something outside."

The boys sat quietly for a moment.

"I don't hear anything," Jamie said. "You're making it up just to scare me, aren't you?"

"No, really! I heard something!"

"Yeah, right."

Jamie was about to eat his s'more when he heard a tapping sound.

"There it is again!"

"Was that it?" he asked Philip.

"We'd better check it out," Philip said, grabbing the fireplace poker.

He wasn't sure that it was really the greatest weapon, but they didn't have any guns in the house, and people on tv seemed to use fireplace pokers a lot for protection. And occasionally for murder.

"Stay behind me," Philip said, trying to sound brave for his brother's sake.

The sound had come from the direction of the kitchen window. Philip stopped just inside the kitchen and flicked off the light switch so that he could see better what was outside.

There was a figure standing at the kitchen window, staring in at them. It was almost entirely black, except for its eyes.

Both of the boys screamed.

"It's Krampus!" yelled Jamie, dropping his s'more.

"It's a burglar, stupid!" Philip shouted, rushing toward the window, his fireplace poker held high.

Then, he slipped on Jamie's s'more and fell. The poker crashed onto the kitchen counter, breaking at least one of the plates they'd left there from dinner. The figure at the window disappeared quickly.

Still frightened, Jamie tried to search for a steak knife for protection. Only, in the dark, he pulled out the wrong drawer. In fact, he yanked it out so hard that he pulled it completely off its track and sent spatulas, eggbeaters, and wooden spoons flying all over the kitchen floor.

Philip struggled to his feet and ran to look out the front window. He saw the dark figure run down the sidewalk and across the street. He seemed to be holding something in his hands, but Philip couldn't see what it was.

Behind Philip, Jamie turned on the kitchen lights again.

"Maybe we should call the police!" he said.

"Forget it. He's gone," Philip said as he came back into the kitchen. "We could call Buck, if you want."

The boys looked around at the mess on the kitchen floor.

"Maybe we should clean all this up before Mom and Grandma see it," Jamie said.

"Sounds like a plan."

SMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMK

The Colonel poured his nephew a drink.

"I'm sorry that you didn't get a chance to see Amanda," he said. "Sounds like you had a rough evening."

"You're telling me!" Lee said. "I frightened Amanda's kids half to death, and I'm probably lucky that Philip didn't kill me. I guess I should have called the house first to make sure that Amanda was home."

"At least the boy's a fighter." The Colonel chuckled. "Reminds me of you when you were a kid."

The brandy his uncle had given him was helping Lee to see the humor in the situation.

"I'd pity any burglar who tried to break into that house! I heard Jamie yelling something about cramps. I wonder what that was about."

"Well, don't be discouraged," the Colonel said. "There's still time to give Amanda her present before Christmas. I think you just need a different strategy."


	5. Christmas Glories

**Chapter 5: Christmas Glories**

Amanda was cheerful as she served breakfast the next morning. The caroling had gone well, and her group had collected some large donations. The boys seemed to have done well spending the evening on their own for the first time. They'd eaten too much sugar, of course, but she'd expected that. And they'd cleaned up after themselves, too. The kitchen had been spotless when she'd come home.

The boys had told them about seeing a mysterious figure at the kitchen window, which might have been a burglar or possibly Krampus, come to punish them for eating all the marshmallows. Dotty had been convinced that they'd imagined the whole thing, their imaginations influenced by all the sugar they'd eaten. Amanda had a different theory, but she hadn't wanted to say anything to her family about it.

Her theory was confirmed when the phone rang and her mother said it was for her.

"Hi!" said a familiar voice. "How was the caroling yesterday?"

"Good!" Amanda said. "I thought that I saw you outside of Martindale's."

"Yeah, that was me. I came to see you last night, but I guess you weren't home yet."

"No. I was going to ask you about that." Amanda glanced over at her family. They were still busy with breakfast and didn't appear to be listening.

"Yeah, I think I really scared the boys. I'm sorry about that. How are they doing?"

"Oh, they're fine."

"Good. Listen, I have to see you tonight. I could use your help with a case."

"What, now? It's the day before Christmas Eve."

"I know, but it's important. It won't take too long. Could you come to my place around eight o'clock tonight?"

"Sure."

"Great! I'll see you then. Oh, and could you bring some marshmallows?"

"Marshmallows?" Amanda asked.

"Yep!" Lee said. "See you tonight!" Then, he was gone.

Amanda hung up the phone. Her mother was staring at her oddly.

"What was that about marshmallows?"

"Oh, a friend asked me to do him a favor. He needs a few things and can't get to the store, so he asked me to pick them up for him."

"Was that Mr. Steadman from work?"

"Well, yes," Amanda said.

"Ah, you see! I knew, being a bachelor, he would need help entertaining his relatives for Christmas. No doubt, he didn't buy enough food. Remember to always buy extra food when you're entertaining. Sometimes, you end up having more company than you think you will."

"Yes, Mother," Amanda said.

She was still thinking about marshmallows. What was Lee going to use marshmallows for?

SMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMK

When Amanda arrived at Lee's apartment that evening, holding a grocery bag, she found Lee dressed casually in a nice sweater. He didn't look like someone about to dash off on a mission. There was a fire crackling in the fireplace. She was also surprised to see that Lee's uncle wasn't there.

"My uncle's visiting with some old friends at his club this evening," Lee explained.

"I see. So what's the case that you need my help with?"

"It's right over here," Lee said, leading her into the dining room.

On the dining room table, there was a large wooden case filled with bottles of wine.

"It was an early Christmas gift from my uncle," Lee said happily. "My favorite vintage."

"This is the case you were talking about? I thought it was Agency business. You said it was something important."

"It is important," Lee said, selecting a bottle. "It's never a good idea to drink alone. I could really use your help. Besides, I've been having the hardest time trying to give you your Christmas present."

Lee pulled a small box wrapped in gold paper out of his pocket.

He'd tricked her, and Amanda knew it, but she laughed.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that I brought this." Amanda pulled her present for Lee out of the grocery bag.

"Want to open our presents now?" Lee said with a grin.

When Amanda opened her present, she was pleasantly surprised to see a little gold watch with a heart-shaped face.

"It's beautiful!" she said. "I'll admit I was expecting a scarf."

"I got you one of those, too," Lee admitted. "But that's what I get for everyone. I wanted to get you something extra this year, and I figured that you could always use more time."

Amanda smiled at his joke. "Wait 'til you see your gift."

Amanda had bought him a pocket watch. Lee traced the image of the boat embossed on the cover. It reminded him a little of the Mata Hari II.

"You could always use a little more time, too," Amanda said teasingly.

"I certainly enjoy spending it with you," Lee said softly.

Amanda blushed.

"Thank you," Lee said. "Let me pour you a glass of wine."

"Marshmallows seem like a strange accompaniment for wine," Amanda commented. "Why did you have me bring some?"

"I thought that we could toast some in the fireplace," Lee said. "It seemed like a Christmas-y thing to do."

"Sounds good to me," Amanda said.

The two of them sat by the fire, talking about past Christmases. Amanda started telling him about the best Christmas she'd had as a kid. As far as Lee was concerned, this Christmas was the best one he'd ever had because the best present he'd ever been given was sitting right next to him, smiling as she popped a marshmallow into her mouth.

**The End**

**Merry Christmas!**


End file.
